In German, imperatives are used for commands and requests. You might use the imperative to order someone to take out the trash or be quiet for a second. With the correct imperative form at hand, you are one step closer to what you need!
German imperatives work very much like in English but there are quite a few differences. For instance, just like German has three “you” pronouns, German has three different forms for the imperative, where English has just one:
Commanding one person | Komm! | Schlaf! |
Commanding two people | Kommt! | Schlaft! |
Formal command | Kommen Sie! | Schlafen Sie! |
English | Come! | Sleep! |
Let’s have a look at how we use the imperative in German!
The imperative is a verb form used for commands and requests. In English, the imperative looks just like the present tense “you” form of the verb, but it is used without a and is usually followed by an exclamation mark:
“You come here.”
“Come here!”
Like English, the German imperative usually isn’t used with a (except for the polite form!). But unlike English, the German imperative is represented by three unique verb forms — one for each “you” pronoun (du, ihr, Sie):
"you" | Used For… | Example: spielen(to play) |
|---|---|---|
du | Commanding one person | Spiel(e)! |
ihr | Commanding two people | Spielt! |
Sie | Formal command | Spielen Sie! |
Not only are there three separate forms in German, but those three forms aren’t conveniently borrowed from one of the verb tenses: the imperative forms above are unique to commands.
Theoretically, there’s also a wir-form of the imperative:
Spielen wir!
Let’s play!
However, this one is rarely used. Instead, we prefer to use the du or ihr imperative like this:
Lass uns spielen!
(You sg.) let us play.
Lasst uns spielen!
(You pl.) let us play!
In German, we usually use formal imperatives to give commands to:
people you do not know (yet)
with elderly or other generally respected people
with your boss, even when you know them well
The distinction between du and ihr commands is pretty straightforward, but learning when to abandon the familiar in favor of the formal can take a bit more practice. Check out our post on politeness in German for more discussion of this!
The form of the imperative in German will depend on whether you are forming the du-imperative (commanding one person), the ihr-imperative (commanding a group), or the Sie-imperative (a formal command for a person or group). Follow the table below:
Familiar | Polite | |
|---|---|---|
Singular | -(e) | infinitive + Sie |
Plural | -(e)t |
One verb, sein has is fully irregular imperative forms:
Infinitive | du-imperative | ihr-imperative | Sie-imperative |
|---|---|---|---|
sein(to be) | Sei nett! Be nice! | Seid nett! Be nice! | Seien Sie nett! Be nice, Sir/Ma’am! |
Other than that, though, the forms are straightforward. Below, we’ll go through a couple details, but luckily the rules we’ll teach you have no exceptions!
In the polite form, you always need to use the subject pronoun Sie.
Kommen Sie mal bitte her!
Would you please come over here, Sir/Madam?
For the familiar forms, though, there’s no need to use the pronouns du and ihr. Much like in English, though, the subject pronoun can be added for emphasis or when the addressee is unclear:
Komm (du) mal bitte her!
Would you please come over here?
Macht (ihr) das ruhig!
You guys should just do it!
In the singular and plural familiar imperatives, some forms will have an -e while other forms will not. Follow the rules below!
The -e is required in both the singular and the plural, when the verb ends in a -t or in a cluster (e.g. -chn, -fn, or -tm). This helps you pronounce the imperative:
Infinitive -t / cluster | Singular -e required | Plural -et only |
|---|---|---|
arbeiten to work | Arbeite! | Arbeitet! |
rechnen to calculate | Rechne! | Rechnet! |
öffnen to open | Öffne! | Öffnet! |
atmen to breathe | Atme! | Atmet! |
If the verb stem ends in -lm, -rm, or -rn, the -e is optional in the singular and usually not included in the plural.
Infinitive -lm / -rm / -rn | Singular -e optional | Plural -t only |
|---|---|---|
qualmen to steam |
| Qualmt! |
wärmen to warm up |
| Wärmt! |
lernen to learn |
| Lernt! |
The -e is required in the singular form, but is not used in the plural of verbs ending in -ern or -eln (which are usually words).
Infinitive -ern / -eln | Singular -e optional | Plural -t only |
|---|---|---|
wandern to hike |
| Wandert! |
googeln to google |
| Googlelt! |
Notice also that in verbs like this, the e from the -ern/-eln ending itself is usually dropped in the du-imperative (though it is allowed to appear).
Colloquially, you will sometimes hear Germans drop the -e from the du-imperative of verbs like these, but in that case, the e from the stem must be pronounced. In short, at least one e must remain:
wandern
✅wandre!
✅wandere!
🆗wander!
❌wandr!
googeln
✅google!
✅googele!
🆗googel!
❌googl!
With all other verbs, the singular -e is 100% optional in the singular form, but it is never included in the plural. Usually dropping the -e in the singular is considered more colloquial.
Infinitive | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
machen to make, do |
| Macht! |
singen to sing |
| Singt! |
denken to drink |
| Denkt! |
Verbs with a stem vowel change (see next section!) can never take the final -e.
❌nimme
❌hilfe
❌liese
You may recall that some irregular verbs undergo a vowel change in the present tense du-form, where the e vowel in the stem becomes (e)i in the du form. The same change affects the du-imperative (but only the du-imperative) of these verbs!
Infinitive | du-imperative | ihr-imperative | Sie-imperative |
|---|---|---|---|
nehmen to take | Nimm! | Nehmt! | Nehmen Sie! |
helfen to help | Hilf! | Helft! | Helfen Sie! |
essen to eat | Iss! | Esst! | Essen Sie! |
lesen to read | Lies! | Lesen Sie! | Lesen Sie! |
However, the verbs that acquire an umlaut in the du-form of the present tense (e.g. a → ä) do not acquire an umlaut in the imperative.
Infinitive | du-imperative | dupresent tense |
|---|---|---|
fahren to drive | Nimm! | Nehmt! |
stoßen to push, poke | Stoß(e)! | du stößt |
When using a separable-prefix verb in the imperative, the prefix will always come at the end of the sentence:
mitkommen → Komm mit!
to come with → Come along!
anmachen → Macht den Fernseher an!
to turn on → (You all) turn on the TV!
Just like in English, the bare imperative sounds quite harsh in German. Therefore, we like to add certain magic words to soften the tone. These magic words are bitte(please), doch(come on), and mal(once) These words can also be combined for an even better tone. For example:
Komm bitte her!
Please come here!
Komm mal her!
(I’d appreciate it if you could) come here.
Komm doch her!
Come here please, would you?
Komm doch mal bitte her!
Please come over here!
Forming negative imperatives (e.g. “Don’t spill that!”) is easy: just add nicht! You can add it after the imperative, after pronouns, and after all the magic words, generally following the principles discussed in our article “How to use negation in German?”.
Iss nicht so viel!
Don’t eat so much!
Komm bitte nicht mit!
Please don’t come with us/me!
Sei doch mal bitte nicht so unfair!
Please don’t come with us/me!
Today, we have covered everything you need to know about how the imperative works in German:
There are three forms: familiar singular (du), familiar plural (ihr), and polite (Sie). The one you use depends on politeness and the number of people you’re talking to.
The imperative is quite regular. You’ll usually use the following rules:
du-imperative → add -e / -∅
ihr-imperative → add -(e)t
Sie-imperative → use infinitive + Sie
Use the magic words bitte, doch, and mal to make your imperative sound softer and sound much more like a native!
Ready to practice? Check out our German imperative activities to test your knowledge!
